Gordon Grdina's Square Peg - Klotski

Label: Attaboygirl Records, 2021

Personnel - Gordon Grdina: guitar, oud; Mat Maneri: viola; Shahzad Ismaily: bass, Moog; Christian Lillinger: drums.

The Vancouver-based guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina is frequently involved in interesting projects (his recent duo recording with the drummer extraordinaire Jim Black is a highlight of 2021) melding experimental jazz and rock, free improv and eclectic-flavored new-music. As expected, the Square Peg quartet is planted on the left side of the jazz spectrum, featuring violinist Mat Maneri (David S. Ware, Matthew Shipp), bassist Shahzad Ismaily (Marc Ribot) and German drummer Christian Lillinger (Punkt.Vrt.Plastik).

Released on Grdina’s own label and presented as a continuous suite of modular pieces, Klotski kicks off with “Impending Discomfort”, whose patient, minimal and airy preamble insinuates indistinct directions. That’s until a repetitive, pulsating bass figure consolidates with a hi-hat/snare pattern, having the rock muscularity of the guitar granting space for beautiful viola dissonances. The ensemble roots for an art-rock stratosphere here.

“Sulfur City” draws special attention. Maneri’s bowed ostinato works well with the countermelody offered by Grdina, which also serves as harmonic reference. Everything is enclosed by the eerie atmospherics of Ismaily’s bass and the flapping sounds of Lillinger’s drumming. The piece then evolves into a noir indie rock with improvised guitar and Moog eruptions at the fore. 

Dark tones are also spotted on “Bacchic Barge”, which plays like an atmospheric ballad spiced by microtones (viola and oud) before shading its texture through murky bowed bass; and “Sore Spot”, an elliptical ride with an insistent guitar outline and unobstructed improvisation. The eerie substratum of the latter differs from the lightness and looseness of the following track/section, “Joy Ride”, an electrifying 14-beat cycle fusion of progressive rock and Eastern sounds.

Another portion of music worthy of mention is “Kaleidoscope”, a polyrhythmic effort with a guitar ostinato in seven supporting thoughtful viola cries, and counting on some mesmeric, spasmodic rhythms laid down by Lillinger. It ends with a slower-than-expected pace.

Always with an inherent sense of lyricism and willing to build something meaningful, Grdina’s Square Peg explores abstract paths with musical clarity.

B

Favorite Tracks:
04 - Sulfur City ► 05 - Kaleidoscope ► 08 - Joy Ride

Irreversible Entanglements - Open the Gates

Label: International Anthem Recording, 2021

Personnel - Camae Ayewa: spoken word, synth; Keir Neuringer: saxophone, synth, percussion; Aquiles Navarro: trumpet, synth; Luke Stewart: double bass, bass guitar; Tcheser Holmes: drums, percussion.

The strong collective energy and the urgency in the message of the Philadelphia-based group Irreversible Entanglements are both kept alive on Open the Gates, its third full-length outing. It’s more than one hour of angular, funk-inflected, modal and agit-jazz music played with spiritual discipline and infused with Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moore Mother)’s left-field poetry.

On the title cut, she speaks without hesitation, having an invigorating afrobeat, a bass figure in six, and consensual horn agreement running in the background.

“Keys to Creation” mixes ambient synth waves, a driving funk pulsation on the bass, muted trumpet and a cool syncopated beat. The flow then becomes groove-driven, incorporating kinetic drumming, convulsive saxophone contortions and attentive trumpet observations. A second transformation occurs, and the group essays another turn with the help of a clattered rhythm in three.

For a brief moment, “Lagrimas del Mar” juxtaposes the predominant 6/8 time with a brief lurching 4/4 swing. It’s a crying song delivered with emotional intensity and themed with a simple five-note horn ostinato. “Storm Came Twice” plunges directly into turbulent avant-garde jazz seas, lending the spotlight to the drummer Tcheser Holmes as he accompanies Ayewa’s spoken word. This track catches fire halfway, when the saxophonist Keir Neuringer blows his horn with spartan austerity. He seems OK with Aquiles Navarro’s more relaxed trumpet lines intersecting his.

Clocking in at 20 minutes, “Water Meditation” first advances with folk innuendos, drones, effects, and then a bass statement that inspires Ayewa’s spiritual verses. Later on, she professes “We are sounding for peace. Healing for peace.” This journey doesn’t end without a vibrant sax-trumpet conversation over a sturdy rhythmic underpinning.

The group endows the nourish “The Port Remembers” with an undercurrent of quizzical tension. Luke Stewart’s arco bass turns pizzicato, and there’s multiphonic saxophone shouts, appeasing trumpet and odd-metered grooves that shift seamlessly.

This passionate music is passionately played.

B+

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Keys to Creation ► 03 - Lagrimas Del Mar ► 04 - Storm Came Twice

Esperanza Spalding - Songwrights Apothecary Lab

Label: Concord Records, 2021

Personnel - Esperanza Spalding: bass, vocals; Aaron Burnett: saxophone; Leo Genovese: piano; Matthew Stevens: guitar; Francisco Mela: drums + guests include: Corey King: vocals, acoustic guitar; Phoelix: synth, piano, vocals; Ganavya Doraiswamy: vocals (#1,2); Wayne Shorter: saxophone (#3); Thrive Choir, and more. 

Esperanza Spalding - a wonderful bassist, vocalist and fusion experimenter - releases Sonwrights Apothecary Lab, a 12-track album with healing consciousness and conceived with a team of neuroscientists, ethnomusicologists and music therapists. The combination of exuberance, refinement and some eccentricity is on display, and the musicians that surround her are outstanding. Yet, not every track does that magic. There are moments of pure genius, especially on the second half of the record, contrasting with those not so interesting during the first.

Grappling with the recent stressful times, “Formwela 1” opens the record strongly, displaying layers of vocals, clever chromatic moves and natural falsetto singing. The bass lines fuse with the lyrics, and the piano adds more color to the setting with its pendulum-like movements before the Thrive Choir take us to a final sustained note that leads directly to the ethereal “Formwela 2”. 

The three tunes featuring the singer/songwriter Corey King (Formwelas 4, 5 and 6) didn’t appeal to me significantly; one of them, in which he plays acoustic guitar, verges on folk-pop. The same indifference transpired on “Formwela 3”, whose contemporary theatrical spin comes mixed with shades of jazz standards and R&B, ending up with atonal lines delivered by saxophonist Wayne Shorter and the excited piano runs of Leo Genovese.

If I didn’t always feel that positive energy during this earlier part of the journey, then I was much more impressed with the last six pieces. “Formwela 7” surprises with offbeat rock impulses; the mantric 12-beat cycle chant “Formwela 8” works as an anxiety antidote in the spiritual line of Alice Coltrane; “Formwela 10” arrives in a lovely jazzy wrap that makes it uncompromisingly sensual; and then there’s “Formwela 9”, a protective amulet in which the group fearlessly explores extravagant territories. I love the singing here, the blistering avant-garde explosions, and when saxophonist Aaron Burnett and guitarist Matt Stevens work closer together.

The record might be uneven, but no one can deny the singularity of this music.

B-

Favorite Tracks:
08 - Formwela 8 ► 09 - Formwela 9 ► 10 - Formwela 10

Wadada Leo Smith / Jack DeJohnette / Vijay Iyer - Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday

Label: TUM Records, 2021

Personnel - Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet; Vijay Iyer: piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, electronics; Jack DeJohnette: drums.

Wadada Leo Smith is a heavyweight of the trumpet, one of the most emblematic figures in the 21st century avant-garde jazz. Beautiful things happened when, in 2016, he gathered with two other jazz giants and reliable partners, the pianist Vijay Iyer and the drummer Jack DeJohnette. The result is Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday, a five-track album with compositions of each plus one collective improvisation. DeJohnette and Iyer played with Smith in two different versions of his Golden Quartet, but never together. 

Masterfully introduced by the drummer, whose tom-tom work balances wet and dry sounds in perfection, “Billie Holiday: a Love Sonnet” is one of Smith’s many dedications to the iconic American jazz singer referred in the title. The trumpeter begins his emotional phrases with pensive deliberation, but the colors drawn from Iyer’s opulent harmonies encourage him to hurl us into a vertiginous sequence. Whether subdued or zestful, DeJohnette’s drumming is unceasingly fantastic.

Smith makes another dedication with “The A.D. Opera: A Long Vision with Imagination, Creativity and Fire, a dance opera”, which was written for the pianist Anthony Davis, a long-time collaborator and also a member of his above mentioned quartet. The piano comes dressed in folk and avant-garde outfits, the trumpet is beautiful in tone and pinpoint in the attacks, while the reassuring drum work completes the poetic scenario. At some point, Iyer switches to organ, probing more mysterious tones, and then reverts to piano again for the hyper section that precedes an unruffled finale. 

Iyer’s “Deep Time No. 1” features an excerpt of Malcolm X’s 1964 speech “By Any Means Necessary” over a pastoral-like texture spangled with electronics and organ, while DeJohnette’s “Song for World Forgiveness” is a poignant, selfless hymn of peace. This latter piece is taken to a broad spiritual sense, with the pianist and the drummer entangled in textures over which Smith towers his horn with certainty. It all ends in a liberating vamped sequence.

The trio wraps up with “Rocket”, a four-and-a-half-minute collective improvisation which, suggesting a blues progression, contains psychedelic Hammond, a sparkling rhythmic routine made of hi-hat, snare and bass drum, and explorative trumpet.

Smith, Iyer and DeJohnette bring their signature warmth and authenticity to music whose structure is not in disagreement with open-ended strategies.

A-

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Bille Holiday: A Love Sonnet ► 04 - Song for World Forgiveness ► 05 - Rocket

Mehdi Nabti & Prototype - Code Source

Label: Self released, 2021

Personnel - Mehdi Nabti: alto saxophone; Joy Anandasivam: electric guitar; Nicolas Lafortune: electric bass; Bertil Schulrabe: drums, tabla; Kullak Viger Rojas: timbales.

There are remarkable musicians who, deeply reverent of their roots and influences, bring them into modern jazz aesthetics with successful outcomes. Examples include Rudresh Mahanthappa, Rez Abbasi, David Virelles, Hafez Modirzadeh and Amir ElSaffar. 

The Montreal-based saxophonist Mehdi Nabti also claims a space for himself, whether applying his Afro-Berber continuum or specific patterns associated with geomancy, as it is the case with this new recording, Code Source. He has been using this latter method intermittently for a decade now, fostering it to further development here with the help of his pliant Prototype group.

“Anzar” boasts a punchy funky rhythm and a bass groove in 10 on top of which a melodic figure suggests an Eastern dance form. Also progressing with odd-meter, “Barca” follows a similar recipe but with an infectious groove that feels very particular. Nabti’s phrasal and timbral agility are noticeable as well as the collective staccatos meant to impart a certain rhythmic stimulation.

“Chronos” puts on show a nimble, deliberate funk work on the core, featuring guitarist Joy Anandasivam in a tasteful solo uttered with the right amount of distortion and effects. The nature of this piece contrasts with “Gurzil”, a relaxing exercise that, gradually adding layers of sound, culminates with a melodious pop song feel. Exquisitely introduced by electric bass, the piece sees its well-developed backbone enriched with chordal guitar playing and percussion, after which Nabti rounds it out with expressive melody. Also infused with melody, “Teryel” denotes a different vibe but a similar meter signature when compared to “Mencey”.

The bass-drum foundation of Nicolas Lafortune and Bertil Schulrabe has a sextuple groove moving on “Beneharo”. Noticeable aspects here are: the guitar performing harmonic and rhythmic tasks, the sinuous eloquence and dancing quality of the Orient and sub-Saharan Africa in the saxophone trajectories, and a final vamp for the drummer.

Drawing stimulating ideas from the concept, Nabti and his peers engage in progressive rhythmic schemes that will keep the ears of fusion devotees well-glued to the music. 

B+

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Barca ► 04 - Chronos ► 06 - Gurzil

Dave Meder - Unamuno Songs and Stories

Label: Outside in Music, 2021

Personnel - Dave Meder: piano, vocals; Marty Jaffe: bass; Michael Piolet: drums. Guests - Miguel Zenon: alto saxophone (#6); Philip Dizack: trumpet (#4,9).

Dave Meder, a rising pianist from Tampa, Florida, releases his sophomore album on the New York City-based imprint Outside in Music. The followup to Passage (), his positive debut, is called Unamuno Songs and Stories and it's inspired by the work of Spanish philosopher and author Miguel de Unamuno. The latter's words serve as an analogy for the current threats against democracy in America.

Featuring him alongside bassist Marty Jaffe and drummer Michael Piolet, the album sparks with the guest presences of altoist Miguel Zenon and trumpeter Philip Dizack, who, never appearing side by side, push the group to a quartet on three of the nine tracks.

“Song of Secret Love” immediately dives into post-bop lightness with a fine burnish and a touch of poignancy. The pianist works his instrument with melodic development and dramatic tension on top of the leisurely feel of the drums. And we have the bassist and the pianist soloing prior to the latter's vocals are added. 

“I Look For Religion at War” attempts to bring Unamuno’s controversial ideas to the fore. Its mournful tones - carried by a piano ostinato, bowed bass and Dizack’s trumpet - are subject to modulation, passing by a classical ascendancy inspired by the Post-Romantic Spanish pianist Isaac Albeniz. This is before Jaffe (with arco) and Meder articulate phrases in mutual agreement. Although the ending is more energetic than the beginning, this tune is never more potent than “The Lake and the Mountain”, on which the seasoned saxophonist Miguel Zenon lends his distinctive voice with grit and energy. A sextuple meter, periodic Latin-tinged envelopment, expressive dynamics and tightly synced movements are other aspects that make this one a highlight.

Both “Augusto’s Dilemma” and the Sir Roland Hanna-penned “Century Rag” operate closer to the mainstream jazz. The latter gets ahead with stride piano and walking bass lines for a swing ride that feels deeply bluesy, while the latter, in a more flamboyant reading, includes rhythmic mutations that lean into avant-garde jazz. 

A sense of connection and sharing centers this program, which includes another cover - the Lerner/Loewe ballad “If I Ever Would Leave You” (from the Broadway musical Camelot) - and ends in a sad note with Meder’s “Exile”, featuring dusky arco bass at the outset, pushing-forward brushwork, sweeping piano and the crystalline intensity of Dizack’s trumpetism.

Some elegant, mature stuff is found here.

B

Favorite Tracks:
04 - I Look For Religion at War ► 06 - The Lake and the Mountain ► 09 - Exile

Kuba Cichocki / Brandon Seabrook - Brisk Distortions

Label: Self released, 2021

Personnel - Kuba Cichocki: piano; Brandon Seabrook: electric guitar.

The Polish pianist Kuba Cichocki joins forces with the American guitarist Brandon Seabrook in this ferocious, highly improvisatory collection of duets enveloped in a bubble of kinetic energy. 

Three of the 21 tracks tracks have the signature of Cichocki, and the opener, “Scribbles” is one of them. Melodically strenuous, expressive and hectic, the music speeds up with an impressive left-hand piano continuum and steep accents. This sort of angular vitality is briefly put on halt for atmospherics but it’s transported to the following number, “Push”, where the stabbing guitar of Seabrook plays with timbre and effects. This is also clear on “Solid”, where torrents of cascading piano notes collide with frantic guitar pointillism and chordal fluxes.

While “Bounce” is driven by contrapuntal rhythmic figures, “Field Trip” clearly leans on warped folk before presenting some ambient washes and playful interplay. Cichocki’s “Rays” seems to have been drawn from danceable electronic music with quiet pauses in-between frictions and a nod to traditional jazz. The responsiveness of the duo here can be compared to “Chitchat (aka The Gloves)”, an ad lib that gets denser in the final section via the eruptive and disruptive distortion of the guitar.

Jagged but interesting, “Spikes” feels like we’re hearing toy music made with percussive prepared piano - sometimes emulating miniature artificial fireworks - and guitar dissonance. In turn, “Vabling” is a bustling, pressurized chamber of timbral and pitch combinations where you can expect murmuring and mantra-like activity.

The briskness is put to rest on the short-lived “Bubbles” and also on the concluding piece, “Breathe Out”, whose gentler temperament comes shrouded in nearly cherubic beauty.

Cichocki and Seabrook are admirably daring in their condensed, hard-nosed duo playing.

B

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Scribbles ► 05 - Field Trip ► 21 - Breathe Out

Michael Hudson-Casanova - Echoes of Thought

Label: Self produced, 2021

Personnel - Michael Husdon-Casanova: saxophones; Elliot Bild: trumpet; Nicholas Lombardelli: trombone; Lucas Brown: piano; Sandy Eldred: bass; Steven Perry: drums.

Echoes of Thought, the debut full-length album from Michigan-born, Chicago-based saxophonist Michael Husdon-Casanova offers a sprawling combination of tradition and contemporary views expressed in the sextet format. The members of this combo hail from Philadelphia, where the bandleader lived from 2017 until a few months ago.

The album is bookended by two playfully disorienting short pieces that are directly connected - “Spin the Context” and “Spin it Back”. Suggesting the force of rock and boasting the horn players in joyful communion, one can only regret these pieces weren’t made longer.

The title “The Old Days, Whenever they Were” is not misleading, with the group brandishing an elated swinging motion that is delivered with shifting meter as well as hard-bop and post-bop pushes. The soloing time is split by trumpeter Elliot Bild, who blows vigorously like Freddie Hubbard; pianist Lucas Brown, whose articulation and integration of harmony and melody are spot on; and Hudson-Casanova, who finishes with a thoughtful speech over a ultimately horn-filled sequence in six.

Waltzing with lushness, “K.W.” evokes trumpeter Kenny Wheeler’s unique ethos, while the living legend Wayne Shorter is presented with a nod on “Droogs”. There’s also “Abandoner”, which flows with a straight eight feel, displaying a contemporary grit amidst influences of the past and the familiar sounds naturally brought in it.

The short-lived “Yea, Exactly” broadens the palette with repetitions of a figure and fast kinetics that take us to a more avant-garde setting. Before closing out the album, “Ravensong” allows a soaring soprano saxophone to ride a mutable rhythm that goes from a more 4/4 dynamic spin to the balladic 3/4 linearity that sustains the bandleader’s improvisation. 

This album shows the skills of Hudson-Casanova as a composer and saxophonist, giving sufficient indications that he can expand his musical vision and explore his creative side even more in the future.

B

Favorite Tracks: 
02 - The Old Days, Whenever they Were ► 05 - Abandoner ► 10 - Ravensong

Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra - Resonant Bodies

Label: Meta Records, 2021

Personnel - Adam Rudolph: conduction, composition, arrangements, handrumset (#9); Liberty Ellman: electric guitar; Nels Cline: electric guitar; Miles Okazaki: electric guitar; David Gilmore: electric guitar; Kenny Wessel: electric guitar; Joel Harrison: electric guitar, national steel guitar; Marco Cappelli: acoustic guitar; Jerome Harris: electric guitar, bass guitar, lap steel guitar; Damon Banks: bass guitar.

This music composed and spontaneously conducted by the acclaimed American percussionist Adam Rudolph for his Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra is atypically enchanting. The high-wire interplay between nine widely different but compelling New York-based guitarists gets to an unconventional sonic escapism that’s equally beguiling and provocative. Resonant Bodies is the 12th installment in Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra series, launched in 2001, and uses his prototypical approach with interval matrices, cosmograms and ostinatos of circularity. The titles of the tracks are the names of stars in the Cygnus cluster.

“Parallax” begins this journey with jagged guitar specks and electronic effects before a rhythmic motion becomes noticeable. The bass follows the idea creating a 10-beat cycle figure that gradually spreads among the crew of musicians. This one is immediately followed by “Albireo”, in which a two-way guitar conversation give the music an abstract shape before rock-infused solos take place over a trance-dancing Eastern pulsation.

The virtuosity of the guitarists involved are occasionally hidden behind the discreet, minimal and spacious foundations. “Mira” serves as an example, where airy chordal elongations support foreboding distorted sounds. Resonant, full-bellied bass notes are added both near the beginning and before the end.

Despite the feast of ostinatos engraved on “Dolidze”, there’s this guitar plasticity that avoids rigidness. Actually, the latter piece is deliciously polyrhythmic, an electro-acoustic psychedelic outfit with occasional parallel trajectories between bass and acoustic guitar, funky wah-wah sounds, samba groove and wild, simultaneous soloing, before ending in pure ecstasy.

Including vibrating drones and scintillating fluxes, “Cygnus” embraces a similar experimental electronic ambiance found in the music of some 20th-century avant-garde composers, like Stockhausen, Varèse and Xenakis. By contrast, “Fawaris” features animated jazz dialogues and contrapuntal figures liable to create atonal configurations of sound as they collide.

The closing piece, “Deneb”, is the only one featuring Rudolph’s percussion as he plays an Afro-centric rhythm on his handrumset, surrounded by a counterpoint of texture. 

Rudolph stands at the vanguard of his productive generation of music creators. His methods and impromptu ways managed to make guitars sounding like if they’re not, and there’s definitely something new here worth exploring. 

B+

Favorite Tracks:
 02 - Albireo ► 06 - Dolidze ► 09 - Deneb

Charlie Rumback - Seven Bridges

Label: Astral Spirits Records, 2021

Personnel - Charles Rumback: drums, guitar; Ron Miles: cornet; Greg Ward: alto saxophone; Jason Stein: bass clarinet; Jim Baker: analogue synthesizer; John Hughes: electronics; Nick Macri: bass; Krystle Warren: voice; Sima Cunningham: voice; Macie Stewart: violin, voice; John Tate: bass.

On his 7th album as a leader, Chicago drummer Charles Rumback explores the many ambiances that comprise his musical territory, leading a combo with serious improvisers such as cornetist Ron Miles, alto saxophonist Greg Ward and bass clarinetist Jason Stein. 

Seven Bridges begins with the atmospheric tide of “Whatever It Takes”, a less-than-a-minute horn-infused exercise that almost plays like a free-form understatement. It leads to the pop song “Fall Dog Bombs the Moon”, sung by Sima Cunningham and Krystle Warren, where we have trumpet, violin and bass clarinet dancing around their words. Both singers are also featured on “Regina”, a warm, leaping 3/4 song that would fit into the repertoires of The Beautiful South and Tom Waits alike.

“K10” and “Fast Shadows” work well as improvisational interactions but could have been shortened since they don’t bring much into the fold after a while. The former is paved with a walking bass figure and brushed drums, having untangled rumbles and responsive dialogues atop; the latter carries a sense of freedom that is first authenticated by Rumback’s introductory drum work, being extended to the ever-grooving bass and electronics.

Embracing a tranquil state of grace, “Hometown Heroes” flows with guitar, bass, muted trumpet and violin, which at some point shifts from screechy repetitive bows to pizzicato melodies. In a similar spirit, “Three Ruminations” dances lightly with composed brushwork and neat melodies provided by Miles and Ward. The cornetist shapes his statements sculpturally on the poignant “Reno County”, where he is followed by Macie Stewart’s creative individuality. He then joins her for a final accented ostinato.

The hypnotic “Storybook Skyline” is a bonus track only available in the digital format, and Miles' consistent ideas stand out once again.

Rumback probes new directions here, and he has ample room to expand them and improve in the future.   

B

Favorite Tracks:
03 - Hometown Heroes ► 08 - Reno County ► 11 - Storybook Skyline

Whit Dickey / William Parker / Matthew Shipp - Village Mothership

Label: Tao Forms Records, 2021

Personnel - Whit Dickey: drums; William Parker: bass; Matthew Shipp: piano.

In a tribute to New York City’s Lower East Side and 30 years of musical collaboration and friendship, the trio co-led by drummer Whit Dickey, bassist William Parker and pianist Matthew Shipp puts out Village Mothership, a collection of six improvised pieces that explores many shapes and forms, both abstract and tangible. 

The album begins with “A Thing & Nothing”, whose initial reflective mood soon develops and expands. The piano goes from fluidly atmospheric to sparse (with incisive low notes) to pressurized mechanical motions. The bass lines feel like delicate, abstract brushstrokes that trail a path on a colored canvas but are not averse to casual vigorous plucks. The drum playing can shift from understated polishment to a bright swinging pulse. These indefatigable artists work on these fluxes and dynamics with a rapport enhanced by their broad history in the avant-garde and free jazz movements.

“Whirling in the Void” is cosmic jazz that starts almost with no gravity. We are gradually pushed into the earth through a mix of jazz radiance, contemporary classical mesmerism, folksy melodies and a concluding avant-rock pulsation.

“Nothingness” arrives with a sheer melodicism that condone with silences and occasional brisk attacks. It gets playful at times, then serious again, and then reflective before reversing this order. The trio is fond of experimentation in a freewheeling fashion but sometimes we are mislead to think the opposite, such is the cohesiveness and ease they play with each other’s ideas and sounds.

One of my favorite pieces is the title cut, “Village Mothership”, which, introduced by Dickey, soon acquires a bare bass pavement that helps to sustain exhilarating piano rides and chordal explosions. Shortly after Parker's bass walks begin on top of an insistent hi-hat route, it all becomes lushly jazzy and swinging with the return of Shipp. The piece fades with active bass and quiet drums.

The cinematic tension of “Down Void Way” toggles between eerie and dramatic, with Parker employing his bowing attributes, giving the piece its best possible mood.

Shipp, Parker and Dickey are constantly searching. They possess a range of resources in their playing that many musicians would like to have. This also applies to their unblemished teamwork.

B+

Favorite Tracks:
01 - A Thing & Nothing ► 04 - Village Mothership ► 05 - Down Void Way

Fred Frith Trio - Road

Label: Intakt Records, 2021

Personnel - Fred Frith: electric guitar, voice; Jason Hoopes: electric bass; Jordan Glenn: drums; Susana Santos Silva: trumpet (CD2 - #1,4); Lotte Anker: saxophones (CD2 - #2,3).

The 72-year-old British multi-instrumentalist and composer Fred Frith has been a prolific stalwart in the avant-garde scene for many decades. Road is a double disc release in which he comes up with a seven-movement suite performed live at the Week-End Fest in Germany with his long-time Bay Area trio - featuring Jason Hoopes on electric bass and Jordan Glenn on drums. If the Disc One demonstrates his ability to create freely without being concerned with any particular genre, then Disc Two is an excellent avant-jazz odyssey where the trio is augmented with the presences of the Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and the Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker. These two distinguished soloists had played with the trio on a number of occasions before.

Assembling and molding abstract shapes through a fusion of idioms, the suite works with the low and high-pressure atmospheres of its surroundings. One can spot noir metal-like guitar demeanors and free funk bass hints (“Lost Weekend 1”); polished jazzy outfits with rhythmic inclinations for world music (“Lost Weekend 3”); electronics-drenched sounds, drones and primitive rhythmic patterns (“Lost Weekend 6”) in contrast with a synth-infused guitar liquidity that collide with furious sudden discharges (“Lost Weekend 4”); as well as diffuse funk-rock infiltration (“Lost Weekend 7”).

Disc Two begins with the 18-minute “Color of Heat”, where Frith and Silva dish out guitar washes and uncannily pristine brushstrokes, respectively, with a hankering for something in the vein of Don Cherry fusion experiments. Things darken considerably in tone, only to radiate light moments later, right before being electrified again in the last segment. Silva’s trumpet also crisscrosses the rhythmic flux of “Color of Heart”, which starts off with nuanced bass runs, guitar staccatos and immersive drum work. There are seamless shifts in mood here, with ethereal chants, trumpet’s air techniques, vocals, and electronic ostinatos being added.

“The Trees Speak” is definitely a favorite. Set in motion by woody bass plucks, synth-guitar harmonies and a tropicalia-like rhythm, the energy of this piece is vividly amplified by Anker’s tenor saxophone. She moves from the lower registers to the higher when the intensity slows down, seeking timbral allurement in the company of Frith’s oblique guitar. One can smell exoticism for a while, before the wind blows vehemently against a final robust texture.

Expressing his undeniable passion for sounds and moods, Frith, in such a good company, turns Road into a triumph of emphatic expectations.

A-

Favorite Tracks:
03 (CD1) - Lost Weekend 3 ► 01 (CD2) - Color of Heat ► 02 (CD2) - The Trees Speak

Family Plan - Family Plan

Label: Endoctomorph Records, 2021

Personnel - Andrew Boudreau: piano; Simón Wilson: bass; Vicente Hansen: drums; Kevin Sun: tenor saxophone (#10).

Formed in 2018 in Brooklyn, Family Plan is a modern trio composed of Canadian pianist Andrew Boudreau and two Chileans, the bassist Simón Wilson and the drummer Vicente Hansen. Their eponymous debut album was conceived with risk-taking spirit, showcasing the three young cats in stimulating conversation and stressing both their individual talents and cohesive interplay.

The first two selections are among their finest tracks, demonstrating how they shift from powerhouse virtuosos to sensitive painters open to diverse coloristic possibilities. “Celebratory” opens the record with an effortless sense of synchronicity and rhythmic astuteness, leading to a circular rock muscularity sustained by free-burning piano and drums, while the bassist bows spontaneously. Quite the opposite, “Life is Good” spreads a staggering melody over a rich harmonic progression, making sure that every gesture means something.

There are other highlights such as “Reptilian”, a spasmodically kinetic trip equipped with odd groove and a solo piano passage; “Touch”, which relies on a repetitive figure subjected to curious adjustments (from a Paul Bley-like jazz ambiguity to a Radiohead-inspired rock context); and “What’s Your Fee”, which, grooving and rocking with an off-centered pulse, has an excellent spot for guest saxophonist Kevin Sun.

Besides the well-worked dynamics, “Scam Likely” comes with crisp piano jabs and rhythmic accuracy, whereas “Who’s Your Copilot” finds the sweet spot between sophisticated pop and nifty post-bop.

This is a forward-thinking trio that deserves to be heard.

B

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Celebratory ► 02 - Life is Good ► 10 - What’s Your Fee

Makaya McCraven - Deciphering the Message

Label: Blue Note Records, 2021

Personnel - Makaya McCraven: drums; De’Sean Jones: tenor saxophone, flute; Greg Ward: alto saxophone; Marquis Hill: trumpet; Joel Ross: vibraphone: Jeff Parker: guitar; Matt Gold: guitar; Junius Paul: bass.

There’s a trademark sense of groove and rhythm to French-born drummer/composer/beatmaker Makaya McCraven, who reached a distinguished place in the modern jazz sphere as a result of his own merit.

His debut on the Blue Note Records is no less than stunning, fusing past and present by expertly providing new outfits to sampled jazz classics. It's a beautiful tribute to the golden era of Blue Note (50s and 60s) and the Birdland jazz club - here represented by the voice of his former master of celebrations Pee Wee Marquette. In order to create a patchwork of elegant hard-bop/hip-hop hybridity, he enlists some serious peers who rise to the challenge with aplomb, helping him lacquering lovely jazz tunes with an updated rhythmic sheen. 

Introduced by Marquette’s effusive announcement, “A Slice of the Top” opens the record with levitating powers, featuring the original horns of Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan (fetched from Art Blakey’s album A Night at Birdland vol.1) crossing over a gorgeously simpatico drum-and-bass rhythm that goes into your skin.

Kenny Dorham’s “Sunset” adapts the familiar hard-bop luxury to the new groovy era defined by McCraven and his accomplices - vibraphonist Joel Ross, guitarist Jeff Parker and bassist Junius Paul. The standard “When Your Lover Has Gone” is transformed into a bright and breezy concoction of jazz, soul and funk. Horace Silver’s “Ecaroh” comes infused with prismatic, liquid patterns and a vibing happiness (with Ross at his coolest). And “Autumn in New York” suggests the theme without following it completely, relying on the melodies of trumpeter Marquis Hill and saxophonist/flutist De’Sean Jones. 

Irrefutable highlights are: Wayne Shorter’s “Mr. Jin”, whose immensity of sound is so liberating that you well might think it’s possible to fly on the wings of its harmonic splendor, and Bobby Hutcherson’s “Tranquility”, presented here as a collage of the harmonic relaxation that stems from the original and the skittish new rhythm pulled off by McCraven.

The variety of textures and moods is on display, and you can easily find the differences between the sly bopper “Coppin’ the Haven”, written by pianist Kenny Drew and taken from saxophonist Dexter Gordon’s 1965 album One Flight Up, and “Frank’s Tune”, which agilely riffs on funk while featuring alternate statements by Parker (operating in a smooth George Benson mode) and Jones on flute. The record comes to an end with the Eddie Gale-penned “Black Rhythm Happening”, a funk-infused piece with celebratory chants and reverb-drenched saxophone coils.

McCraven’s artfulness is to be taken seriously, and Deciphering the Message can be heard as a continuous suite of splendorous narratives and vignettes that bridge two different eras with two fantastic group sounds. It’s a gem with a special eclectic vibe.

A

Favorite Tracks:
01 - A Slice of the Top ► 03 - When Your Lover Has Gone ► 11 - Mr. Jin

Adam O'Farrill - Visions of Your Other

Label: Biophilia Records, 2021

Personnel - Adam O’Farrill: trumpet; Xavier Del Castillo: tenor saxophone; Walter Stinson: bass; Zack O’Farrill: drums.

Hailed by many as one of the most compelling and adaptable contemporary jazz trumpets of our times, Adam O’Farrill is found in his prime on Visions of Your Other, his third album at the helm of his quartet Stranger Days and the second on the Biophilia Records.

This album pairs him with the group’s regular rhythm team - bassist Walter Stinson and brother drummer Zack - as well as with s new addition: the saxophonist Xavier Del Castillo, who replaced Chad Lefkowitz-Brown in the frontline.

The opening number, “Stakra”, borrows a fragment of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s song of the same name, gliding with odd tempo in an airy, graceful delight of accomplished playing. The next piece, the Stinson-penned “Kurosawa at Berghain”, defies the previous soaring atmosphere with the right amount of swagger, displaying an antsy trumpet flying over a spasmodic rhythm that fits the bill of both alternative funk and EDM genres.

Equally intense is “Inner War”, which derived from Adam’s experience of having to bring chickens to be slaughtered while working at a farm in Maine. The trio reinforces its alliance with contrasting timbres, parallel moves, rhythmic consistency and melodic meaning. There’s a fervent statement by Del Castillo, infused with slippery rhythm figures that relocate easily in new spots. Always responsive to their surroundings, he and O’Farrill show off a suppleness with their instruments that motivates. This piece ends beautifully.

Whereas “Hopeful Heart” flows intimately in seven and aims to the senses with a soft groove, the cerebral “Blackening Skies” is awe-striking in both control and intensity, denoting nearly epic contours, striking counterpoint and agility. Adam wrote the latter peace with climate change concerns in mind.

O’Farrill puts a fresh, elegant spin on this chord-less jazz, whose emotional angles are a pleasure to discover. This new body of work is a triumphant artistic showcase of his capabilities both as a modern trumpeter and neat composer.

A

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Stakra ► 02 - Kurosawa at Berghain ► 03 - Inner War

Ben Allison - Moments Inside

Label: Sonic Camera Records, 2021

Personnel - Steve Cardenas: electric and acoustic guitar; Chico Pinheiro: electric and acoustic guitar; Ben Allison: acoustic and electric bass; Allan Mednard: drums, percussion.

First-rate bassist/composer Ben Allison consistently makes good records and he’s been doing it since the mid 90s with diverse ensembles (Medicine Wheel, Think Free, Herbie Nichols Project). For this new outing, the founder of the Jazz Composers Collective changed things up, venturing into new sounds inspired by MPB (Popular Brazilian Music) and Tropicalia, an artistic Brazilian movement that took place in the 60s. With those sounds in mind, he enlisted the reliable guitarists Steve Cardenas, a long-time collaborator, and the Brazilian Chico Pinheiro, a new associate that fits here like a glove. Rounding out the group is the drummer Allan Mednard, who had contributed to his previous recording, Layers of the City (Sonic Camera Records, 2017). They work their way through seven Allison originals and a reworking of Herbie Nichols’ “House Party Starting”, which, glimmering with its recognizable haunting melodicism, emerges here coated with a gracious bossanova feel.

“Safe Passage ” opens the album with catchy electric bass and the adroit sound of brushed skins and cymbals for a soft but steady pavement. On top of it, the guitarists control both harmony and melody with such clarity and such generosity, evoking the lyricism of Gilberto Gil and the easygoing fluidity of Os Mutantes.

The rhythmic magnetism keeps pulling us in, albeit from a different angle on “The Chase”, which recalls Edu Lobo yet with a refined jazzified sensibility. This number is marked by a solid electric bass solo and thrilling drumming, with Cardenas and Pinheiro combining their sounds to perfection. The latter’s improvisation on “Milton” - a celebration of the traditional folk trails and specific sonority of Milton Nascimento (the author of the iconic album Clube da Esquina and the noteworthy song “Miracle of the Fishes”) - is a reassuring wonder of well-chosen notes. This tune ends percussively luxuriant.

“Voyage of the Nautilus” also receives an outstanding percussion treatment by Mednard as it keeps grooving in 5/4 time thru a funkified pulse, whereas “Breakfast with Eric” speaks the blues idiom without sacrificing the album’s aesthetic.

Amidst the chaos and sorrow lived at the time he was working on these compositions, Allison came to the conclusion that he penned the music he needed - filled with beauty, optimism and tranquility. Moments Inside provides an awe-inspiring listening experience for everyone with an eclectic ear.

A-

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Safe Passage ► 02 - The Chase ► 04 - Voyage of the Nautilus

Michael Feinberg - Hard Times

Label: Fresh Sound New Talent, 2021

Personnel - Godwin Louis: alto saxophone; Noah Preminger: tenor saxophone; Billy Buss: trumpet; Orrin Evans: piano; Leo Genovese: synth, keyboards, organ; Michael Feinberg: acoustic and electric bass; Jeff Tain Watts: drums; Gabriel Globus-Hoenish: percussion. Guest appearance by Randy Brecker: trumpet (#9)

Bassist/composer Michael Feinberg releases his eight album as a leader, a successful culmination of the challenges and opportunities imposed by the pandemic. He hired a fantastic group of musicians to play some of his own tunes plus four covers, with Miles Davis’ “Nardis” being the most distinguished of them. His rhythmically defiant arrangement of the latter piece, initially handled with a groovy bass figure and hip-hop color in the rhythm, plays with tempo, moods and styles, including hard-swinging passages and sumptuous Latin segments. Besides the energy of Jeff Tain Watts, for whom Feinberg partly wrote his music, there’s also trumpeter Billy Buss’ elegant muted sound.

Feinberg favors a very eclectic writing, and if “Introduction” carries a slick R&B feel with Orrin Evans and Leo Genovese handling the keyboard chores on piano and synths, respectively, “The Husafell Stone” plunges into bouncy tradition while bringing to mind the music of Freddie Hubbard, Blue Mitchell and Hank Mobley. On the latter tune, Watts stretches at the outset, and I admire how Evans handles his improvisation.

While hard-bop is mixed with pronounced gospel tinge to shape the optimistic “Hard Times” (penned by saxophonist David ‘Fathead’ Newman), it’s a Stevie Wonder-esque funky vibe that animates “Janky in the Middle”, where Buss shows his glossy melodic side in opposition to Godwin Louis, whose zigzagging alto arrives with plenty of accentuation and timbral allurement. Both musicians end up having a lively discussion.

Two McCoy Tyner compositions were selected to be included on the track list, with “Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit” standing out through a Latin jazz-meets-rock that suggests Carlos Santana. It features Gabriel Globus-Hoenish’ well-tuned percussion throughout, and a blistering drum solo by Watts at the end. 

Boasting propulsive licks in its melodic vocabulary, the synth-infused “Monkeys Never Cramp” provides the most exciting playing of the set. Playful, busy and elastic, the piece features guest trumpeter Randy Brecker.

The music has that enthralling appeal and easygoing vibe that satisfies with aplomb. A positive, energetic response to the hard times.

B+

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Nardis ► 03 - The Husafell Stone ► 09 - Monkeys Never Cramp

Ohad Talmor Trio - Mise En Place

Label: Intakt Records, 2021

Personnel - Ohad Talmor: tenor saxophone; Miles Okazaki: guitar; Dan Weiss: drums.

There are many facets to saxophonist Ohad Talmor’s oeuvre. His interest in and devotion to currents like Hindustani and contemporary classical music make him speak with idioms that captivate and intrigue, demonstrating his virtuosic compositional abilities within structurally compelling music.

Mise En Place explores new directions in jazz by making use of the cited influences with cleverness, and finds him fronting a trio with two other cats - guitarist Miles Okazaki and drummer Dan Weiss - both members of another project he leads, the Newsreel Sextet.

The influence of Indian classical music and its rhythmic cycles appear in full bloom not only on “Kamali” - whose intriguing form develops with intersections of Eastern vernacular, contemporary jazz and rock overtones for a first-class piece of fusion - but also on “Shymal Bose Chakradar”, in which accessible melodic parts are quickly reformulated into new patterns and grooves (the rhythm section is simply brilliant here), and also “Rupak Tukra”, a complex concoction of Monk accents and Indian flavors that never loses direction.

Also intermixing the Western and Eastern musical worlds with incessant rhythmic upheaval, “Mixo Mode 19” sometimes resembles Henry Threadgill as it straddles between rigorous composition and searing improvisation. This piece contradicts sharply the rocking spirit of “Back of the Plane”, presented with groove and power and chromatic modulation, and sounding like a postmodern version of Rage Against the Machine. 

The fancifully accented “Theme and Variations” has a funky rhythm undergirding the parallel lines agreed by Okazaki and Talmor in a more familiar avant-garde setting. Subsequently, we have the former delving into post-rock guitar textures, while the latter blows the tenor with a throaty quality and multiphonic conviction. 

The inclusion of two beautiful pieces by John Coltrane confirms the respect nurtured for this quintessential saxophonist. Breaking the intricate rhythmic currents of the preceding five tracks, “Wise One” finds space to breathe, taking us from a context with highly melodic saxophone, scintillating (guitar/chords/texture) and cymbal washes to a rich Brazilian meditation. And “After the Rain” concludes the record with that irresistible peace of mind that all Coltrane lovers search from time to time.

This is a work of pure dedication and focus, impressive in its sheer physicality and complexion. This trio, a new favorite and one of the strongest of 2021, should not be overlooked, demonstrating to have a rapport as tremendous as its musicianship.

A

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Kamali ► 05 - Theme and Variations ► 06 - Wise One

James Brandon Lewis Quartet - Code of Being

Label: Intakt Records, 2021

Personnel - James Brandon Lewis: tenor saxophone; Aruán Ortiz: piano; Brad Jones: bass; Chad Taylor: drums.

Despite the challenges we all know, this is definitely the year of James Brandon Lewis, who is ranked well up among the most creative saxophone players working today. On the heels of the incredible Jesup Wagon (Tao Forms, 2021), comes Code of Being, a quartet effort that largely plays by the same rules defined in Molecular (Intakt, 2020), as he continues to invigorate spiritual and conceptual sonic crusades in jazz. Having penned all eight selections on this album, Lewis not only shines individually but also achieves a highly inviting group sound in the company of pianist Aruan Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones and drummer Chad Taylor.

“Resonance” starts off as a splendid jazz waltz turned into a groove that wafts along in quintuple meter. Lewis’ lines are passionate and rhythmically intense. And then it’s Ortiz, who first seats a peculiar harmonic tapestry on top of the rhythmic foundation as he prepares for an individual statement with coiled figures. It all funnels into an enlightened finale.

There are three dedications on the album: the intimate “Every Atom Glows” is for painter Norman Lewis - a figure of the abstract expressionism who mainly focused on black urban life - and features Taylor’s classy manipulation of cymbals and toms as well as Jones’ thoughtful bass deliberations; the slightly romanticized “Where is Hela” is dedicated to Henrietta Lacks, the African-American woman associated to the first immortalized human cell line; and the lyrical, sometimes prayerful “Tessera” finds its ways to champion the abstraction of American painter/sculptor Jack Whitten. 

The innate spirituality that erupts from “Archimedean” draws inspiration from the civil rights movement and the African-American artistic collective named Spiral (1963-1965). The tune is set in motion by a polyrhythmic bass-piano texture before fixating in a modal flux delivered at a medium 6/4 tempo. Lewis conjures Coltrane and his A Love Supreme here.

A trio of compositions resulted from Lewis’ molecular systematic music concept. One of them, “Per 4”, kicks off with unaccompanied swinging tenor, proceeding with polyrhythmic detail via the tribal force of Taylor’s drumming and the pianism of Ortiz, who also reacts spontaneously to the saxophone expressions. This avant-garde irreverence is also felt in the maniacally infectious “Per 5”. The title track is infused with rhythmic glare and inside/outside flexibility, revealing qualities of Americana and modal jazz. It’s natural to think of Archie Shepp and McCoy Tyner at some point due to the transcendental mood and nature of sound.

This is another stunning offering from a brilliant saxophonist still in his thirties and fated to be a jazz giant.

A

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Resonance ► 02 - Archimedean ► 05 - Code of Being

Andre Carvalho - Lost in Translation

Label: Outside in Music, 2021

Personnel - André Carvalho: double bass; José Soares: alto saxophone; André Matos: guitar.
Guest - João Almeida : trumpet

André Carvalho, a clever composer and sturdy bassist originally from Lisbon, has been based in New York for seven years now. After getting critical acclaim with his previous album, The Garden of Earthly Delights, he blazes a new trail in a record mostly performed in the trio format - alongside saxophonist José Soares and NY-based guitarist André Matos, and with guest appearances by trumpeter João Almeida. Comprising 12 tracks, Lost in Translation channels the bassist’s interest for untranslatable words, an inspiration for the sounds and moods conveyed on the album.

“Luftmensch” (meaning dreamer in Yiddish) and “Kilig” (a Tagalog word related to when something romantic or idealistic occurs) set the tone as the group creates certain ambiances that walk the tightrope between modern composition and spontaneous exploration. The former number invests in tranquility but doesn’t stop from searching via nuanced ostinatos, texture-minded guitar work with polyphonic intention, saxophone trills, and impeccably synced movements. In turn, the latter selection has its peaceful tones disturbed by Matos’ wired clustered chords while the bowed bass and the saxophone perform side by side. 

This conscious avant-garde setting is extended to “Goya”, which explores further oblique angles and leans harder into jagged edges through distorted guitar and the interaction between Soares and Almeida. Their horns join forces again on “Karelu”, a piece brimming with melodic exclamations and whose static foundational overture is reshaped into a definitive celebratory dance. The ruggedness that comes from Matos’ electronic effects are turned into chiming and ringing tones on “Resfebar”, which he fills with excellent guitar voicings. This composition displays a strong central melodic idea to express the mixture of anxiety and anticipation (of a traveler) that the Swedish word in question refers to. Also based on a Swedish word, “Mangata” embraces a more defined song format as it uses folk and modern classical tinges to depict the road-like reflection of the moon in the water.  

Carvalho employs his poignant, well-developed arco sound here, which also entirely shapes “Boketto” and introduces “Uitwaaien”. The latter flows with a nice, levitating pulse before being slightly rockified by monstrous bass plucks in its final section.

Although not every track touches us deeply, Carvalho’s new trio has its own musical vernacular, binding sounds with a cultivated purpose and non-obvious directions.

B+

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Kilig ► 07 - Karelu ► 11 - Resfebar